Brian Vickers: No matter the venue, NASCAR racing remains exciting
Red Bull Racing's Brian Vickers is 12th in the Chase For The Sprint Cup standings heading into Sunday's race at Auto Club Speedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
FONTANA, Calif. – Red Bull Racing’s Brian Vickers doesn’t accept the notion that racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series these days is less exciting than in years gone by, nor does he believe that Auto Club Speedway in California deserves the criticism it sometimes gets for hosting races that some observers consider to be boring.
“I know California (Auto Club Speedway) gets beat up on quite a bit from a lot of different angles,” Vickers said on Friday at the 2-mile track where he’ll compete in Sunday’s Pepsi 500. “I don’t necessarily always buy into that philosophy. I’ve said this before: I think sometimes we as a sport – drivers, media, fans - we’ve been kind of spoiled sometimes. Our racing’s really good. Even at [Auto Club] Speedway, there’s still going to be a lot of passing going on, there’s going to be a lot of racing - more than any other motorsports, bar none, in the world right now. It may come down to fuel mileage, and what’s so bad about that? As a fan growing up watching races of fuel mileage, man that was a nail-biter. I loved watching a fuel-mileage race.
“If you watch Bristol every weekend, I promise you it’s not going to be as exciting. If you watch Richmond every weekend, I promise you it’s not going to be as exciting. If you watch California every weekend, it’s not going to be as exciting. I think we have a very diverse mix of tracks and style of racing in our sport, very competitive. I still think the racing’s great and California’s another example of that. I’m glad we come here. I think it’s a great facility.”
Auto Club Speedway is one of several tracks on the Cup schedule where cars tend to get spread out, which can lead to less passing, fewer cautions and less overall drama. But any perception that the racing at Auto Club Speedway and some of NASCAR’s other intermediate-sized tracks is boring is misguided in Vickers’ view.
The 25-year-old points out that some of the same tracks that draw the most criticism are also venues where drivers run the fastest speeds.
“Trust me, there’s racing going on,” he said. “Sitting behind the wheel, we’re pushing these cars to the limit every lap. The front tires and back tires are sliding every time we go through a corner; we’re taking the car to the limit. We’re doing 210 mph going into the turn. That’s racing. Sometimes you’re going to be a little spread out, and that’s OK. When the fans sit there and watch a car go by at 200 mph, you’re going to be hard pressed to tell me that’s not exciting – even if they’re not three, four wide.”
Vickers especially takes issue with suggestions that the racing of previous eras - such as the 1980s when drivers such as three-time Cup champion and current Fox NASCAR analyst Darrell Waltrip were winning – was superior to today.
“Not to pick on Darrell, but he talks about the ‘good ol’ days,’” Vickers said. “I don’t know if you guys watched any of those races when Darrell won by three laps, but I don’t know what was so special about the racing in the good ol’ days. I mean, don’t get me wrong: There was some exciting races and some extremely talented drivers back then. I’m not trying to take anything away from them. But guys, come on. We get to see like four highlight reels for a span of 20 years. …
“We’ve got 35 cars on the lead lap at the end of these races starting two wide with five to go. What more do you want?”
As for his hopes of staging a rally in NASCAR’s Chase For The Sprint Cup, Vickers concedes that he and his team have a steep hill to climb.
Vickers fell to the 12th and final Chase spot, 250 points out of the lead, after suffering a blown engine in last weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway.
“Our focus has really been on California, just preparing for California to do the best we can,” he said of the past week. “We’re not going to make up three races in one. We’ve just go to come here and do the best and try to win the race and lead laps. That’s our goal.
“It’s not like we feel like we’re out of [title contention], but it goes without saying that we have some catching up to do.”
